Mat 5:17-20 | TNotes | STEP | 5:17 Abolish would mean to eliminate and replace the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets (i.e., the whole Old Testament) as the revelation of God’s will. • Accomplish their purpose might mean to obey them perfectly, to complete their teaching, or to bring about the fulfillment of their prophecies (see 1:22 ; 2:15 , 17 , 23 ). Jesus himself is the realization of all that both the Prophets and the Law taught and expected. Now that Christ, the fulfillment, has come, the Old Testament must be understood in light of him (Luke 24:26 , 44 ).

5:17 ^a Abolish would mean to eliminate and replace the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets (i.e., the whole Old Testament) as the revelation of God’s will.

• Accomplish their purpose might mean to obey them perfectly, to complete their teaching, or to bring about the fulfillment of their prophecies (see 1:22 ^b; 2:15 ^c, 17 ^d, 23 ^e). Jesus himself is the realization of all that both the Prophets and the Law taught and expected. Now that Christ, the fulfillment, has come, the Old Testament must be understood in light of him (Luke 24:26 ^f, 44 ^g).
5:19 ^h The realization of the law in Christ means that obedience to all of his commands (see 28:20 ⁱ) is the only acceptable response for his disciples.

• Commandment refers to the Old Testament commands (5:18 ^j) as now fulfilled in Christ’s teaching (see 5:21-48 ^k).

• the least in the Kingdom of Heaven: Jesus may mean that such an individual will enter the Kingdom, but only barely and with low status; alternatively, some Jewish evidence suggests that he is referring to damnation (cp. 8:12 ^l, where “those for whom the Kingdom was prepared” are eternally excluded).
5:20 ^m unless your righteousness is better: Jesus’ disciples must have the substantially new kind of righteousness that Jesus teaches and makes possible (illustrated in 5:21-47 ⁿ and summed up in 5:48 ^o); it is both quantitatively and qualitatively distinct. Just as Jesus is greater than the Temple (12:6 ^p) and Jonah (12:41 ^q), so the righteousness of his followers far outstrips that of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees (see 3:7-9 ^r).